


nouns

by octopodian



Category: Stellar Firma (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary David 7, also all dialogue is taken directly from the show, gender fic, genderfluid David 7, he/they/she pronouns for david, not really misgendering but sort of assumption of gender if that bugs you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopodian/pseuds/octopodian
Summary: "Skies above, what the hell are you?"David isn't entirely sure. That was sort of what they were trying to figure out, after all.Trexel groans again. "Oh, God, you’re a new one, aren’t you?" When David stammers, confused, he continues, "A bio facsimile! A clone, man, a clone!"So David is a bio facsimile, but also a clone, but they're also a man. And maybe ‘a new one,’ but that seemed to be unrelated.-Ben: "the concept of gender is something David learns from interactions with those around them"Me: [Rubs my hands together.]
Comments: 13
Kudos: 79





	nouns

**Author's Note:**

> once again pumped this out in a few days because inspiration struck... my thoughts on how davids self concept and relationship with his gender developed over the show. he is genderfluid, but since im not genderfluid myself i didnt dwell a ton on the day-to-day fluidity but rather the general process of learning about yourself, and defining yourself while other people throw their opinions in the ring!
> 
> dunno if that makes sense, but, yeah.

David falls through a chute for a surprisingly long amount of time. It gives them time to think, between the screaming and panic.

Firstly, they're not entirely sure who they are. They have a name (David 7), and they work for Stellar Firma, and they have decidedly determined that falling is not their favorite activity. Part of them feels like they should know more than this, but there’s a numbness in their knowledge that they can feel like the nagging gap of a missing tooth.

...Whatever a tooth is. Or a tongue, for that matter. The gaps in their knowledge were incredibly inconsistent.

They slide out onto the cold hard ground, and their butt hurts, and the above conclusions are only solidified.

After a few hours, they see someone else for the first time. 

Trexel squints at them through a hangover. He curses, and something about him — a smell, they would later learn — makes David's nose wrinkle. 

"Skies above, what the hell are you?"

David isn't entirely sure. That was sort of what they were trying to figure out, after all. Trexel groans again.

"Oh, God, you’re a new one, aren’t you?" When David stammers, confused, he continues, "A bio facsimile! A clone, man, a clone!"

So David is a bio facsimile, but also a clone, but they're also a man. And maybe ‘a new one,’ but that seemed to be unrelated.

Trexel seems to think so, and he would know because he seems to be one himself.

"Right! To business, boy, to business."

Also, they’re a boy. That seems like a lot of things to be, but maybe everyone is like that.

They buzz with all the new nouns that have been applied to them. David, Bio facsimile, Clone, Boy, Man. This is information, this is something they can work with.

Some of the words, as he learns their definitions, seem to overlap meanings. Boy and man mean mostly the same thing, as do clone and bio facsimile. Consultant and assistant overlap somewhat, but only to the point of them having a similar job. 

They try to pick up all the skills they need as they work, but they don't learn fast enough, and the planets they build aren’t any good.

"Hello boys!" Hartro says as if she isn't one, and David starts thinking again, because they'd never really seen any other way to be, but now they have.

So Trexel is a man and a boy, and Hartro is a woman, and neither of them seem to be a clone or biofascimile.

Even though Hartro was not a boy, she still decided that David was. He guesses he has to be, since everyone else seems to think so.

Still, David stares at the glittery gems fixed at the corners of her eyes and the shiny pendants dangling from her ears, and he wishes he could look like she does.

So, they're a David, a bio facsimile, a clone, a man, a boy, and though no one else seems to agree, they think they might be a woman too.

Gender doesn't come up much from day to day. Mostly, he just tries not to die.

Trexel calls a client who isn't a man a man, and David corrects him.

"You've high-roaded me, have you, David?" Trexel scowls, and David is confused because he doesn't think it should really be such a touchy subject — and also because it means Trexel isn't always right, and if Trexel isn't always right, then maybe Hartro isn't always right either. Maybe neither of them were right about David.

He sees pictures of Bathin during that week's review. Bathin has beautiful long hair and a thick beard, and the only hair David has is short and on the top of his head and covered in moisturizer. Bathin is a boy, but he makes David feel things that Trexel doesn't.

Bathins chest is flat and sculpted, and David’s is neither of those things.

Hartro seemed to like Bathin too, something David can relate to, and David tries to use that to inform him — does being attracted to Bathin make you a girl like Hartro and disliking Bathin make you a boy like Trexel? Then David is definitely a girl. They don’t think it’s that simple, though, because they feel like they’re still a boy. 

They wipe another layer of moisturizer off their face, and shudder. 

Yes, she decides, she is a girl too. If only because Trexel isn't, and she does not want to be like Trexel.

She slowly learns more about her surroundings and the people around her. Imogen isn't a girl, technically, but she is talked about as if she was. Harry is also a man, but he seems far less irritating than Trexel, and David accepts that maybe she's fine being a guy if it means being like Harry (or Bathin) instead of like Trexel.

She starts exercising. It helps his mood, if only a little, and quietly he imagines that eventually he’ll look like Bathin.

The Standards show up, and they're like nothing David has ever seen before in every possible way. They are harsh and commanding. They do away with those rules and boxes of gender in favor of shoving everyone else into stricter boxes following harsher rules.

They have a plan for David, one she doesn't know but one that they're insistent he follows.

They give him some new words: freak and abomination.

David, a bio facsimile, a clone, a man, a boy, a girl, a freak, an abomination—

David is sick of other people telling him who he is. The guns blare in their ears and they can't take it for another second. 

She screams and tears a hole through the walls trying to squeeze in and crush her.

He will _not_ be contained.

Trexel doesn't get to define him, Hartro doesn't get to define him, the Standards don't get to define him, even Imogen who _made_ him doesn't get to define him. 

They aren't about to let anyone tell them who they are. They're going to discover it for themself, and they're going to fix Stellar Firma while they're at it.

Right now they're David, and that's all they need.


End file.
